12 Ways to Learn While Playing with Food (Love to Learn Linky #42)

We all have probably told our kids at one time or another to not play with their food! Well, sometimes you can let them play and use it as a learning experience. Here are some awesome ideas for learning with common snack foods including goldfish, oreos, M&Ms, crackers and more!

How about some STEM learning with goldfish crackers? Use these free Goldfish Printables to practice math skills, and see how to engineer a Goldfish pulley system.

Read the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear and try this color matching activity with Teddy graham crackers.

Sort your lunch into different shapes with this free Shape Sorting Printable.

Have a blast cutting up your food with this Scissor Skills Lunch activity.

Got M&Ms? Practice spelling words with these free M&M Word Printables, and have fun counting with this M&M School Bus Math game (also includes free printable).

Try one of these 8 creative ways to learn with Oreos.

Learn about constellations with Fruit Gummies and this free printable.

Practice addition with these free Jellybean Math printables.

Make your own Very Hungry Caterpillar out of these healthy snack foods.

Learn to count to 100 with Skittles in this free printable basketball game.

LOVE TO LEARN LINKY

Visit my co-hosts to see their posts and features!

Fun Ways to Paint with Kids from A Little Pinch of Perfect

Now it's time for some more links! I hope you'll join me and a couple of friends for a brand new linky party!

Bloggers, link up your posts every Thursday and watch as we round them up and share them all over the place.

Almost anything goes, we're just hoping your activities teach kids (or us!) something. (science, art, cooking, behavior, crafting, parenting, etc...)

Love to Learn Linky Etiquette:

• Posts should be about educating our kids in any way - science, art, cooking, crafts, behavior, parenting, etc. Please keep them family friendly and please no Etsy shops or giveaways unless they are relevant to the topic.

• Upload your direct post link to the InLinkz widget. Link up to 3 posts.

• Like the hosts on Facebook: Totschooling, A Little Pinch of Perfect, Left Brain Craft Brain and One Time Through.

• Or follow the hosts on Pinterest: A Little Pinch of Perfect, Left Brain Craft Brain, Totschooling and One Time Through.

• Post our button on your site.

• By linking up, you agree to have your images shared with credit.

Link up and grab a button!

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An InLinkz Link-up

Bread Science Experiment + Free Printable Bread Cutting Pack

My next guest blogger is one you will definitely want to visit: Kristin from SmartE partE! Kristin is a homeschooler who blogs about her tot-school and preschool learning activities, themes, and free printables. She specializes in tot and prek "trays", such as her Hockey Tot Tray + Free Hockey Pack, 12 Science Preschool Trays + printables and 15 Spring Preschool Trays + printables.

Sourdough Bread Science

Long ago, my husband took a job as a bagel baker, which led to a career in bread baking. Sourdough was just a way of life! It took until later to understand the science behind it.

The actual maintenance of a sourdough starter is likely outside the scope of preschool science. If you are interested in learning more today, Cultures for Health has some helpful tips, videos and projects all about sourdough! We wanted to share an easy-prep science experiment that can be done with regular yeast and everyday household liquids. 

For this simple experiment, you will need:

-Yeast (not instant)
-Various liquids (see below)
-Cups or bowls
-This printable

You could try this with any liquids you like! Other than the various water temperatures, be sure to have the liquids at room temperature.

-Ice water
-Warm water
-Hot water
-Soda water
-Almond milk
-Dairy milk
-Apple juice
-Cider vinegar
-Soda w/ sugar
-Soda w/ corn syrup
-Soda (Diet)
-Water & baking soda (let sit 5 min before using)
-Water & aspirin (let sit 5 min before using)

Simply mix about 1 tsp. of yeast into 4-6 oz. (or 1/2 - 3/4 C) of liquid in a cup or bowl. Label or note each mixture. Watch mixtures as they change. Look from above and record the results on the printable! (We used dollar store plastic cups for this. But, another option would be to do these mixtures within Ziploc bags! Please be wary though as the bags could explode due to the activity of the yeast.) We were surprised at what liquids had the strongest reactions. We invite you to investigate this, too!

Download the Yeast + Liquid Bread Science Printable here! 

Bonus: Free Bread Cutting Pack

Though my boys make bread all the time, I decided to have a special Bread Preschool Week in our homeschool. So, I have created a free, printable bread mini-pack that I am honored to share with Totschooling readers! I always appreciate the free printables from Totschooling that makes our homeschool preschool journey oh-so much easier!

This bread mini-pack includes:

-Cutting Strips
-Cutting Shapes
-Slicing Bread
-Symmetry 

Download the Bread Cutting Practice Pack here!

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy learning about bread and how it works in your homeschool!

Meet Kristin:

Hi! I am Kristin and I blog over at smartEpartE.com. When our son, E was 2 I jokingly called him a "smarty party," hence the name of the blog! It served as inspiration to keep up with weekly tot school themes, and perhaps, share some ideas with others! Thank you for visiting over at smartEpartE.com or on Pinterest!

12 Creative Ways to Learn with Coloring Pages (Love to Learn Linky #37)

Coloring pages seem like the perfect quiet time or busy activity for kids. However, my daughters (and I'm sure my kids aren't the only ones) will spend about 5 minutes or less if I give them a coloring page and crayons. Granted, this may be because they are still young (3 1/2 and almost 2 yrs), but I wanted to find a way to engage my kids and also get some educational value out of a simple coloring page. 

Recently, we went on a vacation which involved an airplane flight as well as multiple car rides. While I thought I had packed enough activities, I ended up running out of things to keep them busy. I went out and bought some coloring books and decided to get creative!

Here are 12 ideas for creative ways of using and learning with coloring pages, as well as a list of my favorite free coloring page resources at the end!

1. Color By Number
This is a super easy way to turn a coloring page into an educational activity! Just create a legend of numbers and their corresponding colors, and write the numbers on the picture where the colors go. For a fun twist, you can play a roll & color game by rolling a die, calling out the number and then coloring one of the numbers in the picture. Keep rolling and playing until the picture is complete.

2. Color by Letter or Sight Word
This is the same idea as number 1 but you can use letters, words, shapes or anything else that your child is learning.

3. Color by Dots
Use a marker to create little circles, essentially labeling which colors go where on the page. Great for color recognition in young children.

4. Color by Sequence 
Write numbers or letters throughout the picture and ask your child to color in numerical or alphabetical order. 

5. Sticker by Number/Letter/Word
This one is a favorite at our house! Hide letters, numbers or words throughout the picture and also write them on a set of stickers (I like to purchase these circle labeling stickers at the dollar store). The child then places the stickers over the correct letter or number.

6. Cut & Make into a Puzzle
This one is really easy to prep. Just cut the paper into 4, 6, 9 or 12 pieces and let your child put it back together. You can also let the child do the cutting and it doubles as cutting practice!

7. Cut in Half and Complete Picture
Learn about symmetry or just let your child use their imagination to complete the picture.

8. Find & Color
Depending on the type of coloring page, ask your child to find a specific shape, object or character and once they find it they color it. Repeat until the whole page is colored. This would be great with a more complex coloring page with many different elements.

9. Make a Collage
We do this one a lot at our house. I give my kids craft supplies such as tissue paper, pom poms, feathers, googly eyes, scrap paper, buttons, etc and have them glue these things onto the coloring page. It usually comes out like a work of art! You may need to reinforce the paper or, if you are printing, you can print on cardstock or heavy paper. 

10. Turn into a Playdough Mat
Any coloring page can be turned into a playdough mat. Just laminate the sheet (or not) and give your child playdough to "color" in the picture. Tons of fun and great for fine motor skills.

11. Turn into a Lacing Card
This one works best if the coloring page is mainly one animal, object or character. Laminate the page (or print on cardstock), then cut out the main object and punch holes around it. Give your child a shoelace, string, yarn etc. to lace around the picture.

12. Cut out Characters/Animals/Objects and Make Story Puppets
Another idea that works only for certain coloring pages. Cut out the main characters, animals, etc. and turn them into puppets by taping a craft stick to the back. Ask your child to come up with a story and use the puppets to act it out.

Free Coloring Pages & Resources:

300+ Disney Princess Coloring Pages by What Mommy Does
35 Free Disney's Frozen Coloring Pages by The Kid's Coloring Pages
1000+ Free Disney Coloring Pages for Kids by The Farm Girl Gabs
Famous Paintings Coloring Pages by Super Coloring
Marvel Superhero Squad Coloring Pages by On Coloring
Robots Coloring Pages by The Art & Craft Giraffe
32 Free Zoo Animal Coloring Pages by Raising Our Kids
Animal Coloring Pages by Better Homes & Gardens
Eric Carle Coloring Pages by Mom Junction


LOVE TO LEARN LINKY

Visit my co-hosts to see their posts and features!

Dinosaur Crafts & Activities for Kids from A Little Pinch of Perfect
DIY Cardboard Rocket Ship and Space Play Ideas from One Time Through
Play Dough Robots from Left Brain Craft Brain

Now it's time for some more links! I hope you'll join me and a couple of friends for a brand new linky party!

Bloggers, link up your posts every Thursday and watch as we round them up and share them all over the place.

Almost anything goes, we're just hoping your activities teach kids (or us!) something. (science, art, cooking, behavior, crafting, parenting, etc...)

Love to Learn Linky Etiquette:

• Posts should be about educating our kids in any way - science, art, cooking, crafts, behavior, parenting, etc. Please keep them family friendly and please no Etsy shops or giveaways unless they are relevant to the topic.

• Upload your direct post link to the InLinkz widget. Link up to 3 posts.

• Like the hosts on Facebook: Totschooling, A Little Pinch of Perfect, Left Brain Craft Brain and One Time Through.

• Or follow the hosts on Pinterest: A Little Pinch of Perfect, Left Brain Craft Brain, Totschooling and One Time Through.

• Post our button on your site.

• By linking up, you agree to have your images shared with credit.

Link up and grab a button!

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An InLinkz Link-up

Groundhog Day Shadow Matching Activity

Match the groundhog to its shadow! Here is a fun little free printable activity for toddlers and preschoolers to practice visual discrimination skills while celebrating Groundhog Day.

There are several ways to do this activity depending on your child's age and skill level.

1. Easy - Print off 2 copies of the color cards and cut them out for your child. (laminate if you wish) The child then finds the matching pairs.

2. Medium - Print the shadows and the color cards, cut out the color cards for your child. (laminate if you wish) The child then places the color cards on top of the matching shadows. 

3. Advanced - Print the shadows and the color cards. The child cuts the color cards on their own and glues them on top of the matching shadows.

4. Alternative - Print 2 copies of the color cards and play the classic memory game!

Click here to download your Free Groundhog Shadow Matching Activity!

Free Winter Printable Pack for Toddlers & Preschoolers

Winter is in full swing and my girls are starting to get restless from spending more time indoors. This Winter themed printable pack will be great to keep them busy and learning on those cold winter days! This pack is designed for toddlers and preschoolers to develop early learning skills such as alphabet and number recognition, counting, letter sounds, letter cases, size, shapes, colors, patterns, visual discrimination, prewriting, scissor skills, puzzles and more!

This FREE Winter Learning Pack features 45 hands-on activities, and it is available for Free to all email subscribers. Here is what's included:

Literacy Activities:

-Cut & Paste the Missing Letter

-Letter Sound Matching

-Sight Word Matching

-Word tracing

-Letter Sorting

-Matching letter cases

-Labeling Snowman Parts

-Circle all the letter W

-Circle all the things that begin with W

-Word puzzle

-Sight Word tracing and cut/paste

Math Activities:

-Numbers 1-5 Puzzle

-Numbers 1-10 Puzzle

-Numbers 11-20 Puzzle

-Counting 1-5

-Counting 6-10

-Cut & Paste the Missing Number

-Number to Quantity Matching

-Patterns

-Cut & Paste in Order from Smallest to Biggest

-Sorting by Size

-Shape Matching

-Color by Number

Pre-Writing:

-Trace the Shapes

-Trace Horizontal Lines

-Trace Vertical Lines

-Maze tracing

-Word Tracing

-Snowman Tracing

Visual Discrimination:

-Matching Snowmen

-Matching Winter Kids

-Matching Snowflakes

-Sorting by Color

-Sorting by Picture

-Circle all Winter things

Scissor Skills:

-Cutting straight lines

-Cutting zig zag lines

-Cutting & pasting numbers & letters

-Cut & Paste Build a Snowman

Puzzles:

-Word Puzzle

-Numbers 1-5 Puzzle

-Numbers 1-10 Puzzle

-Numbers 11-20 Puzzle

This Winter Printable Pack is FREE for all Totschooling subscribers!

What can I expect as a Subscriber?:

-You will receive free printables that are not available for download on the website. This includes holiday and seasonal packs, as well as other themed activity packs.

-You will get access to a growing collection of Board Book Printable Activities.

-You will receive 2-3 emails per week with new posts, freebies, sales and additions to the site.

-You will receive a special subscriber discount for the Online Store.

-Your information will never be shared with anybody else.

Christmas Art Skills Printables

Kids love coloring pages, but sometimes they can be a bit... boring (gasp!) so I created these FREE Christmas Art Skills Printables that work on scissor skills, tracing and coloring at the same time!

These FREE Christmas Art Skills Printables include 3 scenes: Santa riding his sleigh above a skyline, Santa next to a Christmas tree, and a nativity scene.

Directions:

-cut paper along the thick gray lines

-assemble the puzzle and glue onto the blank page

-trace along the dotted lines

-color the picture!

Click here to Download your FREE Christmas Art Skills Pack!

(Note: If you have problems printing these, please email me at totschooling@gmail.com) 

If you enjoy these printables, check out 

The Ultimate Art Skills Pack:

Free Thanksgiving Math & Literacy Printable Pack for PreK

Get ready for Thanksgiving with this fun turkey themed math and literacy pack for preschoolers. This FREE printable pack is designed for preschoolers to practice math and literacy skills such as counting, number recognition, number quantity, shapes, alphabet recognition, letter sounds, letter cases and more!

This Thanksgiving themed Math & Literacy Pack features 23 hands-on activities, and it is available for FREE to all email subscribers. Here is what's included:

Literacy Activities:

-Alphabet matching

-Letter case matching

-Letter Sound Matching

-Sight Word Matching

-Tracing words

-Letter Sorting

-Word puzzle

Math Activities:

-Numbers 1-10 Puzzle

-Counting

-Cut & Paste the Correct Number

-Number Matching

-Quantity Matching

-Shape Matching

-Cut & Paste Missing Number

-Color by Number

This Thanksgiving Printable Pack is FREE for all Totschooling subscribers!

After entering your email address, you will receive a confirmation email to complete your subscription. You will shortly receive a Welcome email that includes a link to this pack. If you have not received this email, please check your spam folder, or email me at totschooling@gmail.com. Thanks!

What can I expect as a Subscriber?:

-You will receive free printables that are not available for download on the website. This includes holiday and seasonal packs, as well as other themed activity packs.

-You will get access to a growing collection of Board Book Printable Activities.

-You will receive 2-3 emails per week with new posts, freebies, sales and additions to the site.

-You will receive a special subscriber discount for the Online Store.

-Your information will never be shared with anybody else.

Free Halloween Printable Pack for Toddlers & PreK

Halloween is one of our favorite times of the year and I like to use this as an opportunity to create some fun learning activities. This Halloween themed printable pack is designed for toddlers and preschoolers to develop early learning skills such as counting, number & alphabet recognition, letter sounds, letter cases, size, shapes, patterns, visual discrimination, prewriting, scissor skills, puzzles and more!

This Halloween themed Pack features 27 hands-on activities, and it is available for Free to all email subscribers. Here is what's included:

Literacy Activities:

-Cut & Paste the Missing Letter

-Letter Sound Matching

-Sight Word Matching

-Tracing words

-Letter Sorting

-Rhyming Words

-Which letter does not belong?

Pre-Writing:

-Trace the Circles

-Trace Horizontal Lines

-Trace Vertical Lines

Math Activities:

-Numbers 1-10 Puzzle

-Counting 1-5

-Counting 6-10

-Cut & Paste the Correct Number

-Number Matching

-Quantity Matching

-Patterns

-Cut & Paste in Order from Smallest to Biggest

-Sorting by Size

-Shape Matching

Visual Discrimination:

-Matching Halloween items

-Matching Jack-o-lantern faces

-Sorting Halloween items

Scissor Skills:

-Cutting straight lines

-Cutting zig zag lines

-Cutting page in 4 sections

Puzzles:

-Cut & Paste Puzzle

-Numbers 1-10 Puzzle

Below is a Sneak Peek:

This Halloween Printable Pack is FREE for all Totschooling subscribers!

What can I expect as a Subscriber?:

-You will receive free printables that are not available for download on the website. This includes holiday and seasonal packs, as well as other themed activity packs.

-You will get access to a growing collection of Board Book Printable Activities.

-You will receive 2-3 emails per week with new posts, freebies, sales and additions to the site.

-You will receive a special subscriber discount for the Online Store.

-Your information will never be shared with anybody else.

Free Princess Learning Pack for Toddlers & PreK

My daughter's current obsession is princesses. We have princess books, princess toys, princess dresses, and we even threw a princess birthday party for her third birthday! I always like to take advantage of things that interest her and use them as learning opportunities, so of course I created a Princess themed printable pack, and giving it out for free to all my wonderful followers!

 

This free printable pack includes 21 activities to practice counting, number recognition, letters, letter cases, letter sounds, prewriting, scissor skills, visual discrimination, lacing, do-a-dots and more!

 

For toddlers, I always recommend that you laminate the activities and use Velcro to attach the loose pieces. Preschoolers or children who are practicing using scissors can do these activities by cutting and pasting. The prewriting sheets should be laminated or placed in sheet protectors for easy wipe-off.

Click here to download your Free Princess Learning Pack!

 

If you enjoyed this Free printable pack, sign up for the Totschooling e-mail newsletter for access to all the printables, including seasonal and holiday packs!

Free Summer Printable Pack for Toddlers - PreK

 

Summer is finally here but the learning doesn't stop! This printable pack is great for toddlers & preschoolers on long car trips, airplane rides, rainy days or simply for every day learning to practice those essential skills like counting, number & alphabet recognition, letter sounds, letter cases, size, colors, shapes, patterns, visual discrimination, prewriting, scissor skills and more!

 

This is my biggest printable pack so far, featuring 37 summer themed activities, and I am making it available for Free to all email subscribers. Here is what's included:

 

Literacy Activities:

-Cut & Paste the Missing Letter

-Letter Sound Matching

-Circle all things that begin with the letter S

-Match the upper and lower case letters

-Sight Word Matching

-Tracing words

-Tracing Letters & Pictures

 

Pre-Writing:

-Trace the Circles

-Horizontal Lines

-Vertical Lines

-Maze

 

Math Activities:

-Numbers 1-10 Puzzle

-Color by Number

-Counting

-Cut & Paste the Correct Number

-Patterns

-Cut & Paste in Order from Smallest to Biggest

-Sorting by Size

-Sorting by Color

-Match the other half of the Shapes

 

Visual Discrimination:

-Matching kids at the pool/beach

-Matching ice cream cones

-I Spy BBQ

-I Spy Beach

-Circle the one that is Different

-Matching Flip Flop pairs

 

Scissor Skills:

-Cutting straight lines

-Cutting zig zag lines

-Cutting page in 4 sections

 

Puzzles:

-Cut & Paste Puzzle

-Numbers 1-10 Puzzle

-Summer Word Puzzle

 

 

Below is a Sneak Peek:

 

 

This Summer themed Printable Pack is FREE for all Totschooling email subscribers.

What can I expect as a Subscriber?:

-You will receive free printables that are not available for download on the website. This includes holiday and seasonal packs, as well as other themed activity packs.

-You will get access to a growing collection of Board Book Printable Activities.

-You will receive 2-3 emails per week with new posts, freebies, sales and additions to the site.

-You will receive a special subscriber discount for the Online Store.

-Your information will never be shared with anybody else.

 

Occupations & Vehicles Matching Activity

Father's Day is coming up and I wanted to make an activity similar to the Mother's Day matching activity I made not too long ago. Except instead of matching mother & baby animals, the child matches the "daddies" in different occupations with the vehicles associated to each occupation. Of course there are women in all of these professions, but I wanted to make this specifically as a fun Father's Day activity.

This is a great language learning exercise to teach the names of different types of vehicles and occupations. You can do it as a cut & paste activity, or for toddlers I recommend that you laminate both sheets, then cut out the vehicles on the second sheet and use Velcro for all the pieces.

Click here to download your Free Occupations & Vehicles Matching Activity!

The Ultimate Art Skills Pack Review & Giveaway!

 

As you may know, I recently created The Ultimate Art Skills Activity Pack which is a series of 20 printable activities for children ages 2-6 to practice ALL of their art skills at the same time: scissor skills, gluing, tracing, coloring and drawing!

 

Ashley from Life with Moore Babies was kind enough to review the pack with her kids and write their opinion of it. She is also giving away a free copy, so be sure to enter the giveaway! Click here to check out the review & giveaway! While you're there, be sure to check out the rest of her blog - she has tons of super fun, creative & educational ideas for kids!

 

Free Easter Printables for Toddlers and PreK

Spring is in the air! And that means Easter is right around the corner. Get ready for the season with this fun Easter Learning Pack for your toddlers and preschoolers!

This Free Easter Pack includes 31 activities featuring number recognition, number quantity, counting, shapes, patterns, alphabet letter cases, letter sounds, sight words, letter tracing, sorting, visual discrimination, coloring, puzzles, pre-writing tracing, scissor skills practice and more!

Subscribe by Email to receive your Free Easter Printables Pack! 

What can I expect as a Subscriber?:

-You will receive free printables that are not available for download on the website. This includes holiday and seasonal packs, as well as other themed activity packs.

-You will get access to a growing collection of Board Book Printable Activities.

-You will receive 2-3 emails per week with new posts, freebies, sales and additions to the site.

-You will receive a special subscriber discount for the Online Store.

-Your information will never be shared with anybody else.